Zoomtopia 2020 Recap: Thank You All For an Epic Virtual Event!

We just wrapped up our first all-virtual Zoomtopia, and while we couldn’t be with you in person this year, the event was packed with big announcements, valuable content, and happy surprises. Our theme for 2020 was Epic Environments, with an emphasis on epic!

Check out the 90-second video recap:

Some of the announcements from our Day 1 keynotes with Zoom’s CEO, Eric S. Yuan, and chief product officer, Oded Gal: 

• End-to-end encryption (E2EE) — Starting next week, we’ll roll out end-to-end encryption for free and paid Zoom users around the world.
• OnZoom — We introduced our public beta for OnZoom, an online events platform and marketplace for paid Zoom users who want to create, host, and monetize classes, concerts, or fundraisers via the Zoom Meetings platform.
• Zoom Apps — With Zoom Apps, you’ll be able to use your favorite apps like Atlassian, Asana, Box, Dropbox, PagerDuty, and Slack directly within the Zoom platform.
• UCaaS enhancements: New and enhanced features across our platform Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, and Zoom Webinars.
• Customizable SDK — Developers can use our new customizable SDK to bring high-quality video, audio, chat, and other Zoom features directly into their custom-built apps for Android, iOS, and web.
• Zoom Cares — Our new philanthropic entity, Zoom Cares, builds on our culture of caring with a commitment to making an impact on education, social equity, and climate change. 

Eric talked basketball and business with Dallas Mavericks owner and “Shark” Mark Cuban on Day 1. Jensen Huang, CEO of chipmaker NVIDIA, joined Eric on Day 2 to share some insights on building a meaningful company culture that puts employees first. Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, talked about combatting virtual fatigue with the new Thrive Reset Zapp and also joined our roundtable discussion on the importance of culture.

Cocktails with Martha Stewart and chef Marcus Samuelsson? Makeup tips from Bobbi Brown? Yes, please! Special guests like Ava Duvernay, Mikey Day, and Clea and Joanna from “The Home Edit” dropped by throughout the event for some “Zoom In” moments to spread wisdom, laughs, and insights.

Fifteen-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys surprised a small group of educators with an intimate musical performance of “Good Job.” Let’s just say there wasn't a dry eye on the Zoom! 

Music legend Dave Matthews tested out Zoom’s High-Fidelity Music Mode with a teaser of his hits on Day 1, and returned the following afternoon to close out Zoomtopia 2020 with a couple of just-right-for-the-moment songs.

Zoomtopia is about celebrating our customers — here are just a few of the special stories users shared:

• A New Mexico mother shared how Zoom helped her stay connected to her newborn son during his NICU stay and allows her to schedule virtual therapy sessions to get him the care he needs from home.

• When COVID hit, Arizona State University used Zoom to switch to a remote learning model in a matter of days — and achieved its highest student satisfaction scores.
• Citi relies on Zoom to serve customers and give staff the tools they need to work from home during the pandemic.

Attendees from around the world joined us for information-packed keynotes, roundtables, and breakouts, which highlighted how Zoom is being used in education, healthcare, financial services, and government; showcased epic technology and unique workspaces; and offered takeaways and tips on how to Zoom better. There’s too many to list here, but here’s a sampling of some of the great Zoomtopia 2020 session content!

Healthcare Keynote: The Future of Telehealth on the Zoom Platform

Telehealth has risen to the forefront of healthcare during these unprecedented times. Dean Shold from Alameda Health System described how his organization rapidly transitioned to providing telehealth services over Zoom to 150,000 patients in a matter of days. We also shared important updates coming to Zoom’s platform for healthcare, including a HIPAA-compliant version of Zoom Phone, enhancements to our Waiting Room and Breakout Room features, and the ability to archive written and spoken content in meetings. 

Education Keynote: The Future of Secondary Education and Fresh Ideas on Keeping K-12 Students Engaged

Education has been a wholly different experience in 2020, which is why enabling educators has been a huge focus for Zoom. Some of the valuable new features that will change how teachers connect with their students, parents, and colleagues include Immersive Scenes, animated reactions, and Zoom Apps. 

Panelists talked about what they’ve learned teaching virtually during the pandemic and shared resources like Class for Zoom, software built on top of the Zoom platform that puts more class management tools directly into teachers’ hands.

Customer Panel: Why the World's Leading FinServ Organizations Trust Zoom

When COVID-19 swept across the globe, financial services organizations faced a significant challenge: How could they maintain the security and privacy of their clients while giving their employees the tools and resources they needed to work remotely? Panelists from Ally, Capital One, and Moody’s Corporation talked about why they chose Zoom to support their organizations’ communications during the pandemic. 

Government Keynote: Product and Security Vision For State, Local, and Federal US Government 

Zoom for Government was built to meet rigorous government standards and certification processes, including FedRAMP, an authorization program for cloud service providers. With Zoom for Government at the FedRAMP Impact Level 2 moderate since early 2019 and moving to Impact Level 4 authorization in the late fall, federal, state, and local governments as well as the system integrators and contractors who support them can be more assured their communications remains secure exclusively in the U.S.-only data centers.

Pushing the Limits of Zoom Rooms: Beyond the Traditional Conference Room

How do you create an epic hybrid classroom that allows active discussion between remote and in-person students? Or turn a complex conference room setup into a simple solution that anyone can use? Zoom Rooms, of course!

Panelists shared unique setups at Harvard Business School, which uses three Zoom Rooms systems to create a more equitable learning experience for students at home; Nu Skin, which deployed Zoom Rooms in auditoriums for global company all-hands; and AV integrator Video Conference Gear, which helped Elevations Credit Union create Zoom Rooms for different uses like huddle rooms, executive board rooms, and community facilities. 

Tips for Mindful Meetings

Did you know that only 8% of meetings have an easily identified purpose, goal, or agenda? That’s way too low! A couple of Zoom partners and customers share best practices for making meetings radically better. One helpful question to ask before scheduling a meeting: “Could this be an email instead?”

CIO Vision: The Future of Work and Where We Go From Here

CIOs discussed predictions on the future of work, evolving view of business continuity, hybrid workspaces, responding to and enabling workers, and the increased opportunities available to employees when they have flexibility and choice in where and how they work.

Epic Events: Advanced A/V Production Setups for Zoom

Looking to elevate your A/V setup for community events, live broadcasts, and other virtual experiences? Paul Richards from HuddleCamHD showed his sweet livestreaming setup and shared how he combines PTZ, huddle, and slider cameras with video production software to create high-powered webinars and events. David Maldow of Let’s Do Video showed us how to do some fun live video editing on the Zoom platform.

Zoom Security and CISO Expert Panel: How Zoom Complements and Elevates Your Corporate Security Strategy 

“Hybrid workforces are the way it's going to go in the future,” was one of the key takeaways from this session. CISOs talked about gaps in their pandemic responses and how they’ll use data to help drive the decisions for what IT needs to plan for a hybrid workforce model, which could involve two sets of IT protocols.

Learn Anywhere: How the Arts & Business Schools Went Online with Zoom

Michael Yaffe from the Yale School of Music discussed how Zoom’s High-Fidelity Music Mode has improved the quality of sound that’s required for musical lessons, making it possible for students to learn from experts across the globe. Megan Pearse from the Stanford Graduate School of Business shared how Zoom’s collaboration features and Breakout Rooms enable executives to engage in exercises like virtual brainstorming and improv sessions for leadership agility.

Government Innovation Experience: Leveraging AI for Critical Video Operations

Experts from Dell Technologies and Digital Harmonic discussed the increased demand for automation and low latency when it comes to streaming video for public safety, including traffic situations, wildfire response, and even military operations. Using machine learning, artificial intelligence, and Zoom, their technology provides information-rich — and in some cases, predictive — video for those who need it right away. (There’s even an earnest “Skynet” reference if you’re familiar with the “Terminator” movie franchise!)

A huge THANK YOU to all the customers, partners, and attendees who took part in some amazing moments and insightful conversations at Zoomtopia 2020! And a special thanks again to our Zoomtopia 2020 sponsors:

We couldn’t have done it without you!

If you want to relive any of the action or catch up on sessions you missed, head to zoomtopia.com to watch the recordings. 

Editor's note: This post was updated Oct. 28 to reflect the Zoom Apps product name change.